Konstbråk! - Göteborgs universitet

Abstract:Konstbråk! (Art Controversies !)A Project of: Kalle Wannerskog & Kalle LekholmJournalism Program, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, GöteborgUniversitySpring Semester 2009Material: The coverage of three newspapers of four events, concerning “art controversies”. Interviews.Method: Qualitative analysisArt controversies are a recurrent theme in Swedish printed media. The last one was the so-called“Konstfack”-controversy this winter, where a Swedish Art School was targeted.We wanted to see how these “art contoversies” work.Problem statement:What is peculiar to this type of media event?What characterizes the debates that follow?We studied relevant newspaper material from three newspapers, and also interviewed people involved in thevents.We have found that the various departments of newspapers play different, quite distinct, roles in reporting.• Newsdesks don’t really write about art until it creates news. The art itself is not addressed here: thereporting is all about events that follow.• The editorial deals primarily to the political consequences of the “art controversies”. When they talk abouart, it is often in a patronizing tone.• Culture desks often take the artists in defense. They consider they have a responsibility to broaden thediscussion, and to try to make complex art issues more understandable for readers.We believe that one of the reasons as to why these ”Art Scandals” appear, is a gap between on one hand, thartist and critics and on the other hand groups within the general population who have a negative attitudetowards art in general. The Art Scandals in our study are quite different from each other in some aspects;one thing they have in common, however, is that they all actualise essentially political issues. These politicissues have to a great extent become the topic of the public discussions in the press.39